I'm thinking about getting a GTX 1070 ti or GTX 1080 to hold me over for a bit before I upgrade to a newer GPU. I also need to buy a monitor, and I'm considering whether to go with a 1600x900 resolution instead of 1080p. What kind of FPS increase could I realistically expect if I use a 1600x900 monitor? I've found some 20-inch 1600x900 monitors, which have a similar pixel density to the standard 24-inch 1080p monitors. I'm also planning to get a 1080p or 1440p monitor later on for gaming, but I need this lower-res one for multitasking in the meantime.
1 Answer
To estimate potential FPS gains, you can look at the number of pixels. A 1080p screen has around 2,073,600 pixels, while a 1600x900 has about 1,440,000, which is roughly 30% fewer pixels. In theory, you might get about 40-45% more performance in purely GPU-limited scenarios. However, in actual gameplay, your CPU may hold you back too, so the improvement might be less significant. Honestly, I’d recommend getting a 1080p monitor and lowering settings instead, since lower res monitors sometimes lack the specs for decent gaming performance.
Got it! But can you explain the difference if I lower the resolution on a 1080p monitor versus just getting a 1600x900 monitor? Would both give similar results?